Alternatives to Term Limits

November 8, 1991

The column informed your readers that term limits are not the answer to congressional corruption.The author is correct. The answer to our problem is the need for honesty, fiscal responsibility, and ethics in government. But, until these cornerstones of good citizenship are restored to our legislators, term limitations are the only answer. The author points out that term limitations would fill the Congress with novices - novices such as the group of farmers and businessmen who wrote our Constitution and Bill of Rights. We could do worse. Term limitations would prevent some very talented people from continuing in office. It would also, however, rule out legions of plagiarists, womanizers, Keating Fives, and pork-barrel experts. There are a lot of talented people in this country who could and would fill the gap. As one of our elder statesmen said, "If you have a bad hand, get rid of it." I say our present system, where 98 percent of the House is reelected year after year, can hardly be called a democracy. Blaine R. Butler, Prescott, Ariz.

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